luigi524td

I can't see any reason for driving 4 wheels regardless of the road conditions. To prove my point I removed my front brakes too why the heck do they make us deal with the added weight of brakes on all four wheels

Just kidding

tuffluck

i personally don't see the benefit of xi, but i am in texas and snow here is unlikely at best. also i think the only real benefit of the xi is for extreme situations where you need all the handling you can get. i may be under-informed when it comes to the xi's of bmw, but sometimes i think the less you know, the better. with xi, all wheels spin. do you need all your wheels to spin? if you're not around a lot of snow or live in the mud or everglades, then i would say no. case closed

harlem

if i lived in texas my choice probably would not be xdrive,but depends on what model i was looking to buy.

twh

Even in a non-snow climate, the xDrive helps in rain.

There is another benefit. I'm convinced that tires last longer. Since all 4 wheels get traction, the tires wear more evenly.

As far as snow, I'll tell you that I left Pittsburgh last year at 5PM the evening the major blizzard started and drove home to Fairfax. Took me 9 hours to get home. The conditions were as bad as I've ever seen (and I'm from Chicago). Penn Turnpike was a mess and I-70 was even worse. I admit it was dicey, but without xDrive I would have never made it without incident.

Razzy530

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!!!!!!
Now, to the OP.......YOU DONT NEED IT ANYWHERE IN THE TRI-STATE AREA! Like I always said, if I lived in Colorado, then "maybe"
With a set of dedicated Winters, youre, just as capable as an all-season tire Xi.

mookish

Well, that would be me, I drive like a complete fool every chance I get. Unless you live in Aspen, you don't really need x-drive. The dealers here in NYC always suckers customers into that "you'll thank me when it snows" crap. My 550 and my 545 never really saw snow yet, but my e39 528 did and yes it was a pain, but that's only like the first day. After day two the streets are basically cleared. Plus it makes me a better driver. Of course the xdrive suckers, I mean owners will say " seriously, there's no difference, it the best thing ever". Just think about how much actual time ther is a good amount of snow on the ground in your area as opposed to no snow, are you gonna buy an xdrive because of actual snow on the ground for maybe two weeks combined? And miss out on all of that dry asphalt waiting to be conquered for the other 50 weeks in the year? And I don't even run winter tires, I just drive.

ottawarealtor

[quote name='mookish' timestamp='1293062981' post='1285968']
Well, that would be me, I drive like a complete fool every chance I get. Unless you live in Aspen, you don't really need x-drive. The dealers here in NYC always suckers customers into that "you'll thank me when it snows" crap. My 550 and my 545 never really saw snow yet, but my e39 528 did and yes it was a pain, but that's only like the first day. After day two the streets are basically cleared. Plus it makes me a better driver. Of course the xdrive suckers, I mean owners will say " seriously, there's no difference, it the best thing ever". Just think about how much actual time ther is a good amount of snow on the ground in your area as opposed to no snow, are you gonna buy an xdrive because of actual snow on the ground for maybe two weeks combined? And miss out on all of that dry asphalt waiting to be conquered for the other 50 weeks in the year? And I don't even run winter tires, I just drive.

ottawarealtor

^^ You must be the guy I pass in the ditch with his summer tires in Janaury.

mookish

Never that, I keep a mini telescoping shovel in my trunk just in case. The first day it snows, it park up and let the city plows do their thing, then I'm back out on the road. I've been rear wheel driving it since my 240sx, my e36 330ci, my e39 528i, and the e60 545i and now 550i. Like I said, depends on where you live, NYC doesn't need it at all. But hey, the more inexperienced drivers in xdrives, the better for me, I don't need y'all fishtailing into me. Leave the true sports driving to us professionals.

harlem

another bmw race car driver.